Strigilated Sarcophagus

Place of OriginAncient Rome

Dateabout 240 CE

DimensionsH (front): 24 13/16 in. (63.1 cm); H (back): 23 in. (58.4 cm); L: 81 1/16 in. (205.6 cm); Depth: 29 1/2 in. (74.9 cm)

MediumProconnesian marble (analyzed 2002)

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott

Object number

1987.223

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

Label TextEarly in their history the Romans usually cremated their dead. But by about 150 CE the upper classes began to bury their dead in stone coffins called sarcophagi (singular: sarcophagus) placed in tombs that lined the roads outside cities. They were always expensive luxuries; the poor could be buried individually in the ground or even in a mass grave. The making of sarcophagi grew into a major Roman industry between 125 and 300 CE. Most of this sarcophagus would have been carved at the quarry, leaving only the more delicate parts to be finished at its destination. The back is uncarved because it was set against a wall. Sarcophagi could be decorated with myths, symbolic biographies of the deceased, or emblems associated with life after death. The lions on this example attack an antelope and a boar. They wear leather straps, indicating they are trained to kill as part of elaborately staged hunts in the gladiatorial arena. Such hunts were popular entertainment, but hunts, gladiatorial fights, and chariot races were often produced in honor of deceased individuals or emperors.Published ReferencesBrewer, John Norris, Beauties of Ireland, 1825.

Neale, J.P., Views of the Seats of Nobelmen and Gentlemen in England, Scotland and Ireland, London, 1825.

Burke, Sir Bernard, A Visitation of the Seats and Arms of Nobelmen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland, 1855, p. 81 ff.

Eiffe, June, "Lyons, Co. Kildare," Bulletin of the Irish Georgian Society, XXVII, 1984, pp. 1-37, espeically p. 16.

"Calendar," Burlington, vol. 131, no. 1031, Feb. 1989, p. 184.

"Museum acquisitions," Minerva, vol. 1, no. 2, Feb. 1990, p. 41, repr.

Knudsen, Sandra E., Craine, Clifford, and Tykot, Robert H., “Analysis of Classical Marble Sculptures in the Toledo Museum of Art,” in Herrmann, John J. Jr., Herz, Norman, and Newman, Richard, eds., ASMOSIA 5: Interdisciplinary Studies on Ancient Stone, (London: Archetype Publications, 2002), p. 232, 237, 239, no. 8, fig. 9.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Rodenwaldt, G., "Romische Lowen," Critica d'Arte, l, 1935-1936, p. 225 ff.

cf. Berg, P., Man Came This Way, Objects from The Phil Berg Collection, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, (exh. cat.), March 9 - May 30, 1971, cat. no. 90.

cf. Andreae, Bernard, Aufstieg und Niedergang der Romisch Welt, Berlin and New York, 1972.

cf. Chiarlo, Carlo, "Sui significato dei sarcofagi a ... decorati con leoni," Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, serie III, vol. IV, 4, Pisa, 1974, pp. 1307-1345.

cf. Robert, C. and C. Rodenwaldt, Antiken Sarkophagreliefs, Berlin, 1980.

cf. Walker, Susan, "The Marble Quarries fo Proconnesos: Isotopic Evidence for the Age of the Quarries and for Lenos-Sarcophagi Carved at Rome," Studi Miscellanei 26 Marmi Antichi, Seminario di archeologia e storia dell-arte greca e romana dell' universita di Roma La Sapienza, Rome, 1985, pp. 57-65, tav. 1-3.

cf. Walker, Susan, Memorials to the Roman Dead, London, 1985, espeically pp. 29-32.